A crossover between Capcom’s Street Fighter series and Netherrealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat series has been a match people have been wanting to see since the mid-90s, a clash between arguably the two most iconic fighting game franchises in history would certainly be something to remember. And while both series are open to crossovers, Capcom and Netherrealm have basically had entire eras where they’ve collided with other IPs in games, the two have never truly met in combat. But the recent announcement of SNK’s Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui in Street Fighter 6 have had fans bring up the age-old crossover questions again, and this time Street Fighter director Takayuki Nakayama addressed it in an interview with VG247.
I don’t see it as a negative! In fact, like you just mentioned… What about Sub-Zero? Well, there may well be Street Fighter 6 players who aren’t as familiar with the Mortal Kombat IP. So if the goal is to get more people interested in fighting games in general, and a crossover like that gets people talking about which characters should cross over…
I mean, obviously I can’t make any promises. But the fact that we’re having this conversation just means that more and more people are getting interested. There is a chance for the fighting game community to reach a whole new audience – so we see it as a positive thing, and we encourage that kind of discussion and comments.
So obviously Capcom is very aware of the fringe demands that people want more guest characters in Street Fighter 6. Some might raise the concern that blood and gore are key parts of the Mortal Kombat identity, but keep in mind Sub Zero himself showed up in the T rated Injustice 2 and was portrayed pretty great there. The main opposition to such a crossover at this point, is likely Capcom’s higher ups as well as demand from the Street Fighter fanbase to prioritize Street Fighter fan favorites such as Makoto or Alex over more guest characters, even Terry and Mai have drawn some criticism from the Street Fighter community over being non-Street Fighter characters when there are leagues of Street Fighter originals that haven’t been in a game in decades.
But this is all speculation, only time will tell if more guest characters will make it to Street Fighter 6 or if Nakayama is merely humoring the rumors.